Through the World of Neglect
by KingLover
Summary: A romantic night for Sonic and Knuckles takes a terrifying turn when a mysterious portal transports the team to a world of darkness. And now zombified versions of themselves have risen from the dead and are out for their blood. Can the team escape back to their own world?
1. Darkness, All That Is Known

**Sonic's P.O.V**

I lay curled up next to my boyfriend of nine months, Knuckles, on his hammock on the hill as we watched the stars, the beautiful sparkling patterns in the navy sky. I smiled as I felt his fingers stroke my ears, trail through my quills. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer, then planted gentle kisses on my temple, making me giggle. We both shifted so we were laying on our sides, facing each other. His amethyst eyes looked gorgeous in the starlight, and they showed pure love and longing as they gazed back into my own, emerald ones.

"Sonic," he said in a sweet, quiet voice, "you're so beautiful."

I smiled and blushed softly. Knuckles ran his fingers in circles across my cheek, then leaned in and kissed me. Our lips parted slightly, our tongues gently mingled with each other. At that moment, we would've been lost in the daze of our love, and it would've remained that way for the rest of the night.

But instead, we were startled out of our romantic trance by the sudden appearance of a dark purple portal before us.

I gasped and clung to Knuckles. Before either of us could react, a beam shot out of the portal and encapsulated us.

I lost my grip on Knuckles as we were pulled into whatever lay on the other side.

 **Knuckles' P.O.V**

I let out a grunt as I landed abruptly on the grass. My eyes instantly searched for Sonic, and I saw he was on the ground just a few feet from me. I stood and walked quickly over to help him up.

"You alright?" I asked, looking him over for injuries.

"Yeah, I'm fine." he said.

"Sonic? Knuckles?" A familiar voice came a few yards from my right. We both looked over and saw our friends Tails, Amy, and Sticks. The fox looked at us with a mix of surprise and confusion, and the hedgehog and badger were looking around at our current surroundings. It was only then that Sonic and I noticed them, too, and we both gasped.

As far as we could see in any direction, there wasn't a single living thing. Every tree, every plant, every blade of grass was dead. Instead of navy and clear, the sky was now black and cloudy. Several yards away stood a massive manor, its dark red exterior paint chipping, parts of its black roof missing. The black gate surrounding it was open and noisily creaking back and forth.

"Where are we? What is this place?" Tails asked what we were all thinking.

"No idea." Sonic said.

"You guys think Eggman might be behind this?" Sticks asked.

"I don't know." said Tails. "None of this feels very Eggman."

"Yeah. This isn't really his approach." I said.

"I've got a bad feeling about this place, guys." Amy said fearfully.

A cold gust of wind blew past us, making us shiver. "Well, standing out here in the cold isn't gonna help us get back home." I said. "How 'bout we check the manor?"

"Seems as good an option as any." Tails agreed, and we started walking.

But as we were approaching the gate, a filthy, decayed hand shot up from a small lake of muddy water and latched onto Sonic's ankle.

 **Sonic's P.O.V**

I screamed as the rotting hand suddenly grabbed me. I desperately pulled my foot back, and after several attempts the hand finally lost its grip on my ankle. I staggered back in fear and lost my balance, but Knuckles caught me before I hit the ground.

We all huddled tightly together and watched, horrified, as five mammals pulled themselves up from the muck. Their skin and fur were dull-colored, their clothing was tattered, their quills were grimy and matted.

And their eyes...were just hollow sockets with dark blood pouring out of them.

There was one other, much more ominous thing we all noticed. Amy said it.

"They're...us."

The five zombified animals...were living dead versions of us. Sticks, Amy, Tails, Knuckles, and me. Our undead counterparts.

I wasn't liking this. We'd been transported to some dark, evil place, and now we were being confronted by zombified versions of us. I wasn't liking any of this.

The zombies suddenly lunged for us, faster and steadier than we expected. Before I knew it, my counterpart wrapped his hands around my neck, blocking my airways. As I gasped for air, I clawed at his fingers, but his lock on me was impossibly tight. He leaned forward and attempted to bite into my shoulder, but Knuckles punched him away, his grip on my neck releasing.

Knuckles held me close to him as I took in gulps for air. At some point, his counterpart lunged for us, but Amy knocked him away with her hammer.

"Quick! Into the manor!" she yelled.

Tails and Sticks fought off their counterparts, and we all ran behind the gate. Tails locked it, and the zombies reached out to us through the bars, trying to grab us. We quickly made our way up the steps of the manor and into the dark foyer.

Amy and Sticks shut the double doors tightly behind us. And I leaned against the wall, struggling to recover from the shock of what just happened to us.


	2. Despair Resurfacing

**Knuckles' P.O.V**

The foyer we now stood in was just as dark and decayed as outside. Every object was broken and useless, the wallpaper was torn and dingy. And most unnervingly, there was what looked like dried blood smeared on the walls and splattered on the ground.

"That's not...blood, is it?" Amy asked shakily.

"I don't know." said Tails. "And I don't think I want to know."

"So, what do we do now?" Sticks asked.

Under normal circumstances, Sonic would know what to do. But he was still recovering from the zombies' attack on us and clearly couldn't work through what was going on. And besides, these weren't normal circumstances.

We weren't in our world anymore. We were somewhere completely different.

This was a world we didn't know, and had no place in.

"We appeared to have been taken here by some sort of dark power." said Tails. "If we can find the source, then maybe we can reverse it so it can take us back home."

"You want us to tinker with dark magic?" Sticks asked in disbelief.

"If it's what brought us here, then it can get us out of here." Amy said. "And it's the only chance we've got."

"Right." said Tails. "Then let's get looking."

"You okay now, Sonic?" I asked my boyfriend.

Sonic took a deep breath and nodded, then readied himself. Though I could still see traces of weariness in his eyes. He seemed so out of it, like he couldn't come to terms with what was happening, which was so unlike him. It hurt me to see him like this.

 **Sonic's P.O.V**

The steps leading up to the second floor creaked and groaned under our weight. The hallways were just as dark and broken-down as the foyer-the rug lining the floor worn thin, the walls patched and peeling, the windows covered in an inch of dust. I looked out one as we walked past it, but I couldn't see much through the dingy glass. I couldn't get our encounter with the zombified versions of us out of my mind.

Were they still trying to come after us?

I didn't want to know.

The first room we entered was dark and bare, except for the scattered parts of some metallic object we couldn't place. A cone-shaped piece was stripped black and magenta, there were transparent pink strips, and an oblong silver part had traces of cyan that looked almost like eyes.

Suddenly, Amy gasped and knelt down and gently touched the parts. Her eyes turned glassy, and it was then that the rest of us knew where these parts came from.

"Bea." I whispered.

Amy started to cry, mourning the Bee Bot she took in and nursed back to health, but Tails put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hold on, Amy. It might not be her." he said. This caught all of our attention, even Amy's. "Those zombie counterparts of us were just different versions of us, we're the real ones. So maybe these are just the parts of another version of Bea, while the real Bea is back home safe."

This seemed to get through to Amy, because she had stopped crying and pulled herself back together. The rest of us silently agreed with Tails. It did seem like a good possibility-maybe this place, wherever we were, was just playing a cruel trick on us, trying to cause us pain. But we weren't going to fall for it.

As long as we were here, we wouldn't trust anything.

Suddenly, there came a painful scratching sound. Rotting hands were clawing at the window, trying to get in. I gasped as the glass shattered and grabbed Knuckles' arm, pulling myself closer to him.

And screamed as our zombified counterparts climbed in through the window and surrounded us.


	3. Pain of the Past

**Knuckles' P.O.V**

Sonic screamed as the zombie version of Tails grabbed him. I stopped his arm that swung to claw at my boyfriend and punched the zombie in the stomach, sending him sprawling to the floor. Sticks struggled as she held the zombie Amy at arm's length, but Tails swooped in and grabbed her from behind, allowing Sticks to smack her with her bo staff. My zombie counterpart was advancing on Amy, but Sonic recovered enough senses to spin dash him away from her.

"C'mon! Let's run!" he exclaimed.

We bolted out of the room, and I shoved an old bookshelf in place to barricade the door. We could hear the zombies banging on the door from the other side, but hopefully they wouldn't get out anytime soon.

Amy sighed. "Well, that was too close for comfort." she said. We all nodded in agreement.

 **Sonic's P.O.V**

"Let's get away from here." I said. "Looks like they're gonna be stuck in there for a while, but we really shouldn't stick around."

"Couldn't agree more." Tails said.

As we walked down the hallway, I could still feel myself shaking from the shock and fear. I placed a hand over my chest and felt my heart racing. I took in deep, slow breaths, trying to calm myself. Knuckles took my hand and gave me a reassuring smile. I returned the smile because, although none of us knew if anything would be alright while we were here, I was grateful for my boyfriend's attempts to comfort me.

We were coming up to a slightly open door when from behind it came a sickening sound, like soneone getting impaled, only more metalic. We all flattened against the wall and listened. There was the sound of shuffling footsteps, something sliding, a rustling that soon faded to dead silence. Tails and Amy, who were up front, cautiously peeked into the room, and their reactions startled us.

Tails gasped, and Amy screamed and held her hands up to her face.

"What? What is it?" Sticks anxiously asked.

Tails wordlessly pointed into the room, and the rest of us looked to see what it was. Knuckles and Sticks both gasped loudly.

"Oh my gosh!" I screamed, and desperately clung to Knuckles.

Inside the dark room, impaled against the wall by long swords, were Team Cybonic, our cyborg duplicates and allies from Robokin. Their eyes were half-shut and dimmed. There were huge slits on their wrists, and wires were spilling out of them. A grimy window on the wall to our left was open, which accounted for the sliding sound from earlier.

Tails examined Team Cybonic's slit wrists. "These are from Eggman's mind control wristbands." he said distantly. "When he used them as his soccer team to stop us from saving the fitness center."

I remembered that time. When our cyborg allies were turned against us and acted like total jerks. I remembered feeling so confused about why they were suddenly like this, until we finally found out the cause and saved them.

"Oh my gosh, guys." Sticks said, looking frightened. "I think I know what happened here. Those zombie versions of us. Maybe they broke out sooner than we hoped. And then they made it here before we did and killed Team Cybonic. Then they slit their wrists and left their bodies here to rot, and now they might be coming after us again!"

"I never though I'd say this, but I think Sticks might be right." said Tails. "We need to keep moving, find the source of dark magic so we can reverse it and get out of here."

 **Knuckles' P.O.V**

We didn't encounter much as we continued along this floor of the manor. But then we came to a division: to our left was a staircase leading down, the bottom lit by sickly green light, to our right was yet another hallway, with no light we could see.

The choice was obvious, we were going down towards the light, which hopefully meant safety.

Grimy lanterns set in the white brick walls lit the tunnel we walked trough with the dreary light. The place didn't smell very great either, the stale air carried a damp, sour oder. The walls were stained with dried blood splatters, just like in the foyer, but we tried to ignore them. We turned right as we passed a brick wall.

And were greeted by a deep walkway full of water.

Instantly, Sonic began to gasp for breath. I took his cold, trembling hands in my warm, steady ones.

"Sonic. Sonic, it's okay." I said, trying to comfort him. But he didn't seem to be listening.

"No." he kept saying and shaking his head. "No, no, no."

"Sonic, it's our only way to get across." said Amy.

"I could fly us all to the other side one at a time," Tails said, "but that'll take too long, and I have a feeling we need to hurry. So we're gonna have to swim across."

"I don't see anything lurking underneath." said Sticks. "So it should be safe to swim through."

"Hop on my back, Sonic." I said. "I'll carry you across." He hesistated, looking nervously at the water. I gave him a quick kiss. "It's gonna be okay, babe."

I didn't know that for sure, but it was all I could think of to calm Sonic down. It seemed to work a little bit, because although he still looked scared, he nodded and climbed onto my back, wrapping his arms and legs around me.

"Okay, let's go!" said Tails, and we dove in.

 **Sonic's P.O.V**

I tried not to squeeze Knuckles too tightly in case I hurt him, but I was petrified beyond rational thought. We were drawing closer to solid ground, but the stretch of water seemed endless. Being surrounded by so much of it constricted my airways, making me feel as though I was underneath, far from the surface and struggling for air I couldn't reach. I took deep breaths in and out, trying to tell myself that we would eventually reach land.

But then, deep underwater, I saw something stir. A shadowy figure, unreadable. My racing heart picked up an even faster pace. It was speeding towards us, still unidentified. I tried to warn the others, but my fear had cut off my voice, so I could only let out a small choking sound.

Knuckles heard it, but before he could say anything, a giant, mutated crab rose from the water behind us and latched its pinchers onto me. I screamed, but was too startled and frightened to fight back.

"Get off of him!" I heard Knuckles shout before the crab pulled me beneath the water.

My chest burned from the lack of oxygen, and the water stung my eyes, making my visability poor. But through my weakened vision, I could see Knuckles dive under and swim quickly towards me. He jammed his spike into the crab's pincher, making it release its grip on me. Knuckles grabbed my hand and pulled me to the surface.

I inhaled sharply as soon as we reached air, then panted and coughed. Knuckles held me close to him and stroked my quills until I caught my breath. I gradually noticed that the other witnessed what happened, and they were undoubtably looking shocked.

"What...was that thing?" Sticks asked.

"Some kind of mutated crab." Tails said. "Looks like this water isn't safe after all. We better hurry and get to the other side before-"

Before he could finish his sentence, another crab rose up behind him and the girls. They were startled, but luckily, Sticks acted quick and threw her boomerang between its eyes, stunning it. Amy whacked it with her hammer, and it dove back underneath.

"Wait." Amy suddenly got a look of realization on her face, and then dread. "Guys, I think I know where those crabs are from. What memory, I mean."

I was just coming to realize it myself, when the two mutant crabs resurfaced and attacked us once again. I desperately clung to Knuckles, too terrified and helpless to join the fight.

"They're from when we fought Eggman underwater!" Amy told us as she dodged one crab's pinchers jabbing at her. "When he planned to destroy the village with a tidal wave!"

Tails tried to stab the other crab between the eyes with his wrench, only for it to block each attack with its pinchers. "That was when we sent Sonic underwater to fight!" he said as he did. "So he could face his fears! The fear that's facing him right now!"

Battling our nemesis underwater, drastically raising the fear level. Struggling to orient myself in the weightlessness of the water, and fight at the same time. Our attacks slowed down, the battle made more difficult than usual on our part.

Definitley not one of my best memories.

Suddenly, something from below latched onto my leg. Knuckles was yanked from me by one of the crabs. Then a third one surfaced from behind me and grabbed my head, then pushed me down so that only my head was above water. No doubt there was a fourth underneath holding onto me. These two new crabs had me trapped.

Something strange happened. Instead of brick wall and dull lighting, I saw coral beds and daylight filtering down from above. I was trapped in a collapsed pile of rubble, struggling in vain to escape. Then to my complete horror, one of Eggman's Crabots cut my air hose, leaving me in very real danger of drowning.

My entire mind went blank.

 **Knuckles' P.O.V**

I finally managed to push a crab off of me, and then rushed to help Sonic. Seeing him the way he was sent a stab of pain through my heart. His pupils were dilated with fear, his breaths were labored and too fast. The Sonic we knew wasn't supposed to be like that.

I hardly recognized him anymore.

Suddenly angered by what the mutant crabs were doing to my boyfriend, I stabbed them with my spikes and carried Sonic on my back again. Tails, Amy, and Sticks managed to fight off the other two, and the mutated crabs sunk back into the water, defeated.

As soon as we were close enough, Sonic grabbed onto the ledge and pulled himself onto solid ground. I crawled up after my boyfriend and wrapped my arms around him. His blue fur was dripping with water and he was shaking all over. He was whimpering and hugging himself. Our friends joined us, looking at Sonic with concern.

To our surprise, tears started to run down Sonic's face. He was crying softly, but soon it became pained sobbing full of despair. Tails, Amy, and Sticks were alarmed, but I quickly gave Sonic a comforting embrace, who held tightly onto me as he sobbed.

"It's okay, Sonic. It's over." I said to him gently. I placed light kisses on his temple. "It's over, baby."

Sonic desperately pressed his lips to mine. I kissed back, gladly giving him the comfort he needed. Everyone sat down, looking warily at the water we just fought our way through.

And we all took a moment to recover from the intense battle, and the painful memory.


	4. A Precious Moment of Love

**Knuckles' P.O.V**

"Sonic, are you ready to keep going?" Tails asked after a while.

After Sonic finally cried himself out, he spent our moment of downtime resting against my chest, letting his tears dry on his muzzle, saying nothing. Now his tears were long dried, but the whites of his emerald eyes were bloodshot. It pained me to see my poor Sonic like this.

We kept walking, not running into anything, monsters or bad memories brought to life. As we went up a staircase, the white brick walls became dark walls covered in dingy, tearing wallpaper. We were back in the manor, back to walking through dark hallways, keeping a lookout for enemies or a way home.

I kept a steady hold of Sonic's hand as we walked. He was calm now, but he kept his head down and didn't say a word since our break after fighting the mutant crabs. How my heart ached for him. That must've been one of his worst memories, having to fight while facing his worst fear, then being trapped and almost drowning. I gently squeezed his hand and leaned down and kissed his cheek. He smiled, but it was too weak to be his own.

Sticks yawned. "How long have we been walkin'? I'm beat." she said.

"Well, we haven't encountered anything in a while." said Tails. "I guess it's safe to take a little nap."

"We should stay together." Amy said. "In case we're attacked."

I looked down at Sonic and said to the others, "I think Sonic and I need to be alone together, guys."

We found two bedrooms next to each other. They were old and worn-down, but the beds were in sturdy condition and comfortable enough. Tails, Amy, and Sticks rested in one room, while Sonic and I lay curled up on the bed of the other. He dozed off right away, exhausted from the battle and his fear. I fell asleep soon after, worn out myself.

Sonic was still asleep when I woke up a while later, feeling good and rested and more alert. But then he let out a startled cry and woke up, and right away I had him wrapped in a comforting hug.

"Shhh, it's okay, baby." I said soothingly, stroking his quills. "It's okay, baby, calm down."

Sonic lay against my chest, taking deep breaths, recovering from the nightmare he must've had. Then he buried his face in my fur as he started to cry again.

"Let it out, babe." I whispered. "Just let it out."

When Sonic finally spoke, his voice was breaking with tears. "Will these ever...stop coming up?"

"I don't know, babe. But it's okay, the worst is over."

He fell silent again, then asked something worse. Something so unlike him I doubt he really meant it.

"What if we're trapped here...for good?"

No. That wasn't Sonic. That wasn't him at all. The Sonic we all knew wouldn't ask or even think something so hopeless. What had that memory done to my boyfriend?

"Sonic," I began.

"What if we can't get out of here?" he continued, his tears falling faster. "What if the magic can't be reversed, or it went away after it brought us here?" He was sobbing again. "What if-we're left here forever-to be tortured by our worst memories and fears?"

"Sonic," I lifted his chin up, forcing him to make eye contact. The look on his face-pain, sadness, hopelessness-combined with his tears broke my heart.

"This is not how it ends for you."

 **Sonic's P.O.V**

I remembered when Knuckles first said that. I was dangling over a ledge, afraid for my life. His hands were the only thing keeping me from falling to my death.

 _"Knuckles!" I exclaimed. "I can't hold on much longer!"_

 _"This is not how it ends for you!" he said._

"You're...still looking out for me." I said as Knuckles wiped my tears away.

He smiled. "Of course I am. I don't want anything to happen to you." He rested his hand on my cheek. "Because I love you."

For the first time since arriving here, I smiled. "I love you, too, Knux." I said, and leaned in to kiss him.

As our lips pressed together, I could feel it again. That spark when we were on the hill, before be were brought here. That feeling of wanting to be lost in our love.

Only now, at least for the moment, there was nothing to interrupt us but us.

I wanted him. I wanted him in every way possible.

I wanted to forget about everything that had happened to us, and lose myself in my love for him.

 **Knuckles' P.O.V**

The second my lips parted, Sonic slipped his tongue into my mouth and passionately swiped it across my own. I pulled him closer against me, my hands resting near his tail. We shifted so I was laying on top of him. I pulled his neckerchief down and kissed his neck, making a blush appear on his muzzle, where his tears were quickly drying. I kissed his chest and ran my hands across his hips.

"Knux." he moaned. "Oh, Knux."

I cupped my hand between his legs, making him gasp with surprise. Instantly, his member pushed up from his fur, and in minutes it was full length and fully hard. I closed my mouth around it and sucked, rubbing his thighs as I did. Sonic's moaning spiked my arousal, made my own manhood fully present itself. Sonic's hands tightly gripped the bedding as I went away on his member.

With a small cry, Sonic released his seed into my mouth. I swallowed it and pulled back, licking my lips. I took his legs and spread them apart, then positioned my member to push inside his tailhole.

"Ready, babe?" I asked.

He nodded. "Take me away from all this darkness." he said.

I smiled. "Okay." I said, and gently pushed inside him.

 **Sonic's P.O.V**

The first time we made love, the penetration was terribly painful. So painful it almost made me not want to go through with it. This time, the penetration brought minor discomfort instead of harsh pain.

When Knuckles was fully inside of me, he started to thrust, going slow at first, just like he did our first time. This time, however, I wanted him to go faster, to distance me from the dark world as much as possible. I wrapped my arms around his back and thrusted with him.

"Oh, Knuckles..." I moaned. "Faster. Please, thrust faster."

Knuckles started to move his hips faster, and I moaned loudly at how it felt. So good, so indescribably good.

"Yes...more...m-more, Knuckles!"

At that moment, Knuckles' thrusts lost all sense of rhythm and became completely erratic. I felt like I was in a daze as wave after wave of pleassure swept through me, and I moaned with bliss at every thrust.

We both tossed back our heads and moaned loudly as Knuckles poured his seed inside me.

Knuckles pulled out and laid down on top of me, both of us panting heavily. We looked at each other and laughed softly, then shared a passionate kiss. We laid side-by-side on the bed and cuddled, still adrift in the afterglow.

I could feel myself falling back to sleep, but before drifting off I whipsered, "I love you, Knuckles."

He kissed my temple and whispered back, "I love you, too, Sonic." And I slipped into a comforting sleep, safe in my boyfriend's arms.


	5. What Lies Within You

**Knuckles' P.O.V**

A loud thud from somewhere in the room broke me from the trance of love. It didn't wake Sonic-he was still peacefully asleep in my arms. More thudding from outside, what sounded like footsteps out in the hallway.

"Sonic, wake up." I whispered, shaking him awake.

"Mmm, what...?" he said, groggy from sleep.

An even louder thud came from behind the sliding closet doors. Sonic was wide awake now, and we were both on our feet, our eyes searching the room for who-or what-was stalking us.

The thudding, the footsteps, the sounds outside the window-the were all getting louder, coming closer. Sonic side-glanced at me, his eyes wide with fear.

"Knuckles," he said, "I think it's-"

Suddenly, the window shattered, the bedroom and closet doors were barged down, and they surrounded us.

"The zombies!"

 **Sonic's P.O.V**

Tails, Amy, and Sticks rushed into the room and joined the battle. Fortunatley, by now and mostly thanks to Knuckles, I had recovered enough to fight. As Tails and Amy went up against their own counterparts, I spindashed Sticks' and mine off their feet. But then the zombie Knuckles grabbed me and held me above the floor. I screamed as I felt a stab of pain behind my left arm, then farther down. His spike had stabbed me and was dragging downwards, making the wound bigger. Blood seeped out and stained my blue fur red.

"Let him go!" Knuckles shouted angrily. After pushing the zombie Amy off of him, he punched his zombie counterpart in the back, making him drop me. I grabbed my wounded arm, groaning in pain, blood soaking my glove. Tails and Sticks fought the zombies off, and we fled the room and took off running down the hall.

"How do they keep finding us?!" Knuckles asked in disbelief. "They're blind!"

"Maybe they can smell us, or hear us." Amy suggested. "Where are we even going?"

"Who cares?" I said. "Right now we've gotta lose them!"

We turned right and hid in a pitch black room. It was so dark we couldn't see each other, even though we stuck close together. The blood from my wound ran down my arm and dripped to the floor, and I silently prayed the zombies wouldn't hear it. But if they didn't need eyes to find us, who knew how strong their hearing was?

The zombies' running footsteps grew louder, paused, and continued, slowly fading. We stood in silence a moment longer, then Tails opened the door a crack and peeked outside.

"All clear." he said, and we all sighed with relief. He opened the door farther, letting some light in. Enough for them to see my injured arm. "We'd better get something on that."

"Maybe one of these room has something we can use." Amy said.

"Or maybe there's something in here but we just can't see it." Knuckles said. "Seriously, where's the light switch?"

"Let's try feeling the wall." Tails said.

Our hands slid across the wall, searching for the light switch. It hurt to move my left arm, so I used my right. At some point, my foot caught on something on the floor and I almost tripped. I looked down in confusion, but of course I couldn't see anything.

"Found it!" Sticks called out, and the room flooded with a sharp white light. I shielded my eyes, blinded at first, then lowered my arm as I got used to the light. What we now saw sitting on the floor in front of us both confused and unnerved me.

It was me. Not a zombie, but the actual me. Well, almost. His arms and legs and the entire left half of his head were robotic. His cybernetic eye was blacked out and he appeared to be asleep.

Was this another memory? I tried to think of what memory this version of me would represent. Then, just as I was coming to realize what it was, the new Sonic's cybernetic eye glowed red and he woke up. When he saw us, his expression turned deadly and dangerous. He stood up and glared at me with hatred.

"You shouldn't have gotten rid of me." he growled.

 **Knuckles' P.O.V**

This was from when Sonic found that old mech suit in the cave. When it corrupted him and made him completely evil. After we destroyed the microchip that was controlling him, he never wore the mech suit again, saying he prefered having his feet on the ground.

Now it was here, and it wanted revenge on Sonic for tossing it aside.

"I had every reason to get rid of you." Sonic stopped looking scared and was now looking angry. "You made me act like someone I wasn't, like some incredibly rude and evil jerk."

"Don't you remember all the cool stuff you did with me?" the robotic Sonic asked. "All the _swag_ my creators had?"

"You made me insult and attack my friends and ally with Eggman!" Sonic shouted. "I'm glad I stopped wearing you. And I don't care that you can't control me anymore, I'm never wearing you again!"

The evil Sonic scowled. "You're gonna regret saying that, hero!" he said angrily.

He swiped at Sonic with his robotic arm, sending him falling to the floor. He cried out in pain as he landed on his injured arm. Angered by this, I swooped in and grabbed the evil Sonic by his legs.

"How dare you hurt my Sonic!" I shouted, and swung him in a circle before throwing him against the wall. Amy and Sticks pinned him by his arms and legs while Tails reached into the robotic half of his head and pulled something out. The microchip that turned Sonic evil. His robot eye dimmed to black and he slumped to the floor, powered down. Amy destroyed the microchip with her hammer.

I helped Sonic up. The blood from his wound had made a small puddle on the floor. "You okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." he said. He rubbed his injured arm. "Man, that hurt."

"I'd kiss it better, but I don't wanna get blood on my lips." I joked, making Sonic giggle.

Tails looked worried. "At this rate, the wound could become infected." he said. "We'd better get it treated fast."

 **Sonic's P.O.V**

We searched the rooms for something to treat my arm with. Before long, we found a room filled with medical supplies and medicine. Most of them were used up or covered with infection, but we found some clean bandages and bottles of antiseptic that would do just fine. Tails rinsed off the blood, soaked the wound in the medicine, and wrapped it up. Now Knuckles kissed it, and I smiled and pulled him in for a quick kiss on the lips.

With that taken care of, we checked the remaining rooms on this floor for a way home-with no luck-before going up to the top floor. There was only a single door at the end of a long hallway, and from behind it came a purple glow.

We all stood in silence, watching it.

"You guys think that's it?" I finally asked.

"Only one way to find out." Tails said.

We walked slowly down the hall, and I opened the door. The room behind it was neither too big or too small, and completely bare except for two things. One was a control panal with a lever, currently set at a glowing purple light. And the other was a dark purple portal.

The exact same one that brought us to this world.

"This is it." Amy said quietly. "Our way home."

 **Knuckles' P.O.V**

"I can't believe it." I said. "We actually found it."

Tails walked over to the lever. There was another light next to the purple one, this one green and not glowing. "I bet if I switch this, the portal will reverse and take us home." he said.

"Why don't we just go through it now?" I said and walked toward the portal. Only for some invisable force to push me back, stopping me from entering.

"I think you just answered your own question." Amy said.

"Do it, Tails." Sonic said eagerly. "Switch the lever and get us out of here."

I could see why he was the most anxious to leave. This place had brought back more bad memories for him than the rest of us. Memories of having our allies turned against us, facing his worst fear and nearly dying by it, himself becoming evil and attacking us. It was no wonder he wanted to leave this world the most.

But before Tails could put his hand on the lever, the zombie versions of us rose up from the wooden floor and lunged for him.

 **Sonic's P.O.V**

Tails screamed in fear, but we acted quickly and rushed to save him. I spindashed the zombie versions of Amy, Knuckles, and me away from him, but another-I couldn't tell who-grabbed me and threw me into a corner, and I groaned in pain as my injured arm hit the wall.

I heard Knuckles cry out, and he soon hit the wall after me. I noticed his arms as I helped him up-they hung limply, and by the positions of the bones, they were either broken or dislocated. Our friends were soon thrown into the corner with us, and the zombies formed a tight half circle around us.

We were trapped.

Knuckles groaned. "If I could use my arms, I'd ground pound us out of here." he said.

The zombies came closer, and we huddled more tightly together. Amy started to cry.

"I think this is it, guys." she said tearfully.

Seeing her cry suddenly made me want to do the same. The realization of what she said struck me, and I wrapped my arms around Knuckles, tears now falling from my eyes as well.

This was it. We were done for.

"Knuckles," I said, looking up at him through my tears, "kiss me one last time."

We were about to die, it was the least he could do. We leaned in close and kissed for the last time.

"They've stopped!"

 **Knuckles' P.O.V**

Hearing Tails exclaim that stopped us in our tracks. We pulled away and looked at the zombies. Tails was right, they had stopped moving in and were closely watching me and Sonic.

"Kiss again." Sticks said.

Keeping our eyes on the zombies, Sonic and I quickly kissed again. Our doubles went up to each other and kissed, and then something incredible happened.

They began to change. Their dull, grimy fur and matted quills became perfectly smooth and full of color. Their wounds healed and the blood dripping from their empty eye sockets disappeared, eyes full of life taking their place.

They were whole again, now looking exactly like me and Sonic. They smiled with complete happiness and kissed again.

The zombie Tails, Amy, and Sticks smiled, too, then the great change began to happen to them. Their dead, worn-down states magically became whole, living ones. Then it happened to the room we were in, everything old and broken was repaired, the gloomy conditions brightened, even the dark, cloudy night outside became a bright, sunny day. The purple and green lights on the control panel turned red and blue, and the dark purple portal was now a bright red one.

Everything dark and evil had disappeared.

The bandages on Sonic's injured arm fell away, and the wound was gone. My broken arms were healed, too, and I could move them again.

"Wow." he said, both because of us healing and all the evil conditions vanishing.

Our doubles-no longer zombies and now exact copies of us-smiled gratefully at us. Sonic's double stepped forward.

"Thank you." he said.

 **Sonic's P.O.V**

"For so long, all we've known are negative emotions." my former zombie double said. "Sadness, pain, despair. The only pleasure we've ever had was teleporting people from other worlds to our own and tormenting them with their worst memories and fears."

"But you showed us what it's like to feel love." said Amy's double. "So we no longer have need for such heartless actions or terrible emotions. You've saved us from our miserable world, and we can never thank you enough."

After the team and I cast each other looks of intrigue and astonishment, I smiled. "Well, we're very glad to have helped." I said.

Tails' double walked over to the control panel and switched the lever to the blue light, and the portal turned a soft blue. "The portal will take you guys home now." he said.

"And one last time," my double said with a smile, "thank you so much."

I nodded. "Of course Take care."

Our doubles gave us one last grateful look before we stepped into the portal and returned to our world.

 **Three Months Later**

I sat on the flowered grass as I looked up at the moon. I absently ran my fingers across the grass, which was dotted with tiny flowers. The small lake before me displayed the moon's beautiful reflection.

This was where Knuckles and I made our relationship official. I still remember that wonderful night, giggling as Knuckles led me to this spot, marveling at how beautiful it was, laying down on the grass, kissing and caressing, and making love under the moonlight. It was now the night before our one year anniversary, but our relationship wasn't the only thing I was reflecting on.

I heard someone come up from behind me and sit down. His hands wrapped around my waist, and I smiled and leaned back against Knuckles' chest. He kissed me between my eyes.

"Beautiful night, isn't it?" he said.

"Yeah, it is." I replied. Knuckles shifted so he was sitting next to me. We were silent for a while, listening to the water flowing and the faint chorus of crickets. Then I finally said, "What a journey that was."

Knuckles nodded in agreement, then gently laid a hand on mine. "It pains me so much that you were hurt the most." he said sorrowfully. "I should've done a better job at protecting you. Seeing you scared and in pain as those memories came back to you..." He looked away, his eyes shining with upcoming tears.

I pressed closer to him. "You did help me, Knux." I said. "You comforted me when I was hurting, and when we were alone in that room, you helped me forget about everything, if for just a while." I smiled up at him. "Everything that was happening to us just vanished from my mind then, and all I knew, all that mattered to me, was my love for you."

I reached up and kissed Knuckles' cheek. "I'll always be thankful to you for that, Knux, and being there for me when I needed you."

My boyfriend's sweet smile returned and he pulled me in to kiss me. I scooted closer and wrapped my arms around him. There we sat for a few minutes, gently kissing, until we briefly separated and lovingly looked each other in the eye.

"I love you, Knuckles." I said softly.

He smiled and caressed my face in his hands. "Say that again."

"I love you."

He leaned in and kissed my cheek, then sweetly returned, "I love you, too." as he kissed my lips.

Knuckles gently pushed me down so he was laying on top of me, and we lovingly started kissing again. I could feel it again, that feeling from when we were in the room of the manor. Everything else ceased to matter. All I cared about, at that moment, was my love for Knuckles, my sweet, precious, amazing boyfriend. He was all I wanted, all that mattered to me.

And I wanted him. In the most powerful of ways, I wanted him.

"Oh, Knuckles," I moaned, "I want you in me."

He pulled back and smiled knowingly. "What was that?" he said.

I looked at him with pleading eyes and said, "I want you inside me."

He nodded in approval. "Anything for you, babe." he said.

I smiled and closed my eyes and he spread my legs apart and pushed inside me.

I can never say this enough, Knuckles, but I love you.

Sonic, you know this well enough already, but I love you.

And no matter what, I will always love you.


End file.
